Logistics students present safety improvements to APM Terminals Bahrain

Twenty-four Bahrain Polytechnic students from the international logistics management programme presented their final-year industry projects to APM Terminals Head of Global HSE Terminals and Logistics, Global Health, Safety & Environment, Ms. Yvonne Jowett-Reid, and Interim Managing Director of APM Terminals Bahrain, Mr. Farooq Zuberi. The strategic projects revolved around the safety of APM Terminals work environment and solutions that could be globally deployed.

For his part, Mr. Osama AlSayed, Bahrain Polytechnic’s Deputy CEO of Resources & Quality, stated: “Providing field training programmes in global companies such as APM Terminals would benefit our logistics students greatly, as they will be able to receive international experience in the field. This is in line with the objectives of our strategic plan 2023-2026, which seeks to enrich our students by providing international experiences, as well as building international and local partnerships. It also enhances our contribution to the development of the logistics sector as one of the priority economic sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain and within the goals of Bahrain Vision 2030.”

Jonathan Goldner- Regional Managing Director, Asia & Middle East, APM Terminals said: “Keeping our people safe and our ports secure is our license to operate. Our customers and partners expect nothing less. We believe this is achieved best when actively involving our front-line colleagues to work together to solve problems and to remove risk.”

Longstanding partnership

Farooq Zuberi – Interim Managing Director, APM Terminals Bahrain stated: “At APM Terminals, we welcome and look forward to the fresh ideas from Bahrain Polytechnic students to improve the safety of our work environment. The partnership and collaboration between APM Terminals and Bahrain Polytechnic goes back many years. This initiative also provides the students with hands-on learning opportunities and is in line with APM Terminals’ vision to continuously invest in and support the local talent.”

Dr. John Webb, the Project Leader from Bahrain Polytechnic who supervised the students stated: “The students lost two years of industry contacts and development due to the COVID pandemic, and APM Terminals Bahrain compensated for this thanks to their great cooperation with us. I felt very proud of the student’s presentations, and this is credit to APM Terminals’ commitment, instructions, and directions.”

Eman Askar, the Polytechnic’s Programme Manager for the School of Logistics, commented: “I have seen the transition this semester from a student approaching graduation to students that now deserved to be graduates, this was due to the time and commitment given to these students”.

Industry supervisor from APM Terminals

The students were privileged to visit the port with the APM Terminals representatives and explore the opportunities that will be gained from this experience. The students were divided into several groups after discussing the topics with APM Terminals, including: Personal Protective Equipment, Health and Safety Induction, and General Cargo Handling. Each of these groups had an industry supervisor, allocated by APM Terminals, and an academic supervisor, assigned by Bahrain Polytechnic.

A port visit was arranged for all three groups, where the General Cargo handling group had the ability to see the cargo being received and stored at the port and then an opportunity when it arises to see the cargo being transferred to the ship side, unloaded onto the wharf for loading of the cargo and then securing the cargo onboard the vessels.

On-site observation

In addition to the 2 hours classes that were provided to the students at Bahrain Polytechnic campus, a classroom was also provided at APM Terminals each week so the students could observe the environment closely and meet the project leaders each week.

The students were able to present their final year industry project in front of APM Terminal Head of Global HSE Terminals and Logistics, Global Health, Safety & Environment.

Yvonne Jowett-Reid, who was impressed by the students’ ability to reach the results. Representatives from Bahrain Polytechnic also attended the event, including Mr. Osama AlSayed, Bahrain Deputy CEO of Resources & Quality, and Ms. Diana Sarhan, Advisor to the CEO.